what feed!

at the moment i use marimans viramax only because it has 20 different types of seed in it ,what do you use and why

hi ian, at the moment im giving them beyers as itds all i can get at the moment from my local corn man, ive been given directions for a better shop at wakefield and im going to go there when i get chance as ive been told they have a lot more choice of feeds.
when they have been feeding ybs they have had bos pellets but i found that ordinary chicken grower pellets were better last year.

hi,ive used beyers too david and although its not the best corn around there s nothing wrong with it and id have no problem using it again.
i use hormoform when rearing youngsters.

I've put my racers on 60% Barley 15% safflower and 25 % breeding mixture, following Steven Gilberts advice .

niel, when you feed them on barley do they fly for long periods round home or does it make them hungry and want to land for food? i always presumed they would excercise well round home.....any thoughts?

Yes David, they exercise well with the barley, if they leave the loft, one dont see them for an hour or so, then they come in, only let them out once a day, just before feeding time.

i feed my birds on full corn all week dont know if this is right or wrong but seems ok for me

hi,when we raced it was just widowhood cocks and after the race we broke them down on depurative mix until about tue (ish) then we would do half and half so that by end of week they were on full build up mix.....i suppose all fanciers do whats right for them dont they...

hi david,when you say depurative mix what is it you mean,amix bought from corn merchants or barley.thanks.

david use to break them down few years back but didnt get the results dont know if it was the pigeons or the feed tho , maybe iam given them too much protein thats why cant get them down, see what happens at channel next week

Maybe i sound stupid, sorry if i do, but could someone tell me about breaking them down with food ???

when racing on return you feed diet mix (light feed )as the week goes on you gradually build them so by the time they goto racing they are on full corn and full of energy,

What kinda seeds is in 'diet mix' ?

hi niel, we fed them on just barley when they returned and for the next couple of days...we also fed the hens which were paired to the w/hood cocks on barley to try keep them from pairing to each other as if they do they will not be interested in their mates so that wont be good for racing...

So if i understood you, barley break them down?

niel i think the reasoning behind it is that we want the birds to be at their peak on race day so this cant be achieved if they are on the same food all week...by foing it this way they are at their best on race day....or something like that.
its like a pro boxer, he trains leading up to the fight so he hits his peak on fight night...

Barley is a good feed just ask Chris Gordon he uses it all the time and look at his results and he flys long distance

Must say David i boxed myself and you train up to two days before the fight then you are just keeping yourself on the edge for them few hours until fight night then you can let rip

thats it don, you dont over train and burn yourself out before the big night....im a big fan of boxing and have been for years and ive heard many a time the saying "theyve left it in the gym" which i take it to mean they have done too much sparing during training and they have nothing left for the fight...so this could be said of training widowhood cocks, rather than let them exercise round home....

David

you are spot on to much and you burn out the hardest thing for me was reaching the peck and holding it ,the times me and my trainer have had words because i would try and do more rather than just hold the form and the same is for the widowhood cocks

what do you think to training w/hood cocks don, once racing has started train or not train...?

If they are flying well round home and racing well then no training but if they start to loose that edge then give them a training toss just to buck there ideas up

I am going to feed my racers 100% barley, to see the effect what it will have on them

be interested to see how they race

its hard to win buying the most expensive corn, i think using barley would make it harder again but let us know if this works